Process of making practically alcohol-free beers.



beer and is mixed with the other, unferf UNITED srn'ras' PATENT UFFIQE.

CASPAR REI'IEIL, OF BAYRISCHZELL-HQCHKREUT, GERIVIANY.'

PROCESS OF MAKING PRAGTIGALLY ALCGH0I1-FIEEE FEERS.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that, I, Cnsrau Barren, a citizen of the German. Empire, residing at Bayrischzell-Hooh kreut, in the Province of Oberbayern and State of Bavaria, Germany, have invented, a New or Improved Process of Making Practically Alcohol-Free Beers, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to a new crimprored process of makingpractically alco hol-frce beers and has for its object to pro duce beers of this kind which'will be really palatable and which will not pull on the palate while at the same time being thoroughly wholesome and pure, and being adaptedto keep Well.

Numerous attempts have been made to make beer practically non-alcoholic as for instance by freeing it from the alcohol by distillation in a vacuum apparatus, but these processes have not heretofore given satisfactory results. There have also been placed on the market malt beers, caramel beers, and sweet beers containing coniparatiyely little alcohol and dark in color, which are ob tained by the partial fermentation of the hopped wort, etc., in such a manner'thata portion changes into surface fermentation mented beer, consisting of malt wort or only sugar solution and sugar coloring matter. The beers prepared in this manner in some cases have their alcohol content as low as l to 2 per cent. and possess a. mild and more or less sugary taste; this alcohol content however, is too high for many purposes and their sweet and somewhat commonplace flavor is a bar to their permanentpopu- The present inventionaims at the manufeature of a practically alcohol-free beer; that is to say, a beer having an alcohcl content of not more than 0.5 per cent. and preferably as low as 0.2 to- 0.4: per cent. or eren lower, and which will keep for some;con-

siderable length of time, and in. regard to,

taste, smell and briskness and other quali tics will be little if at all inferior to theordinary alcoholic beers in addition to possessing high nutritive value. In 'order to attain this it is necessary to vold sweetness and to give the beer c shln; degree of tartness orsourness in addition to the proper bitter flavor. For this purpose according s ecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 8', llflttl Application filed April 6, 1914. Serial Nag-830,037.

,to the present invention the Wort is soured or acidula tc'd to the required degree and tilt fermentation is arrested at such a stage as notto deprive the-beer of its practically non alcoholic ohal'iectr. The scoring or acidulat1on oi 'thejrtort is preferably effected by meensj 'joi"bacteria" (and preferably by the yog hurtlnillkbncteri ar -Bacillus Bulge-Nous which are capable of forming acids or acidicmnng bacteria which can be used in corn. Junction with yeast. The introduction. of the bacteria is made before the. wort is hopped but is discontinued when the required degree of acidulation is reached and their action is arrestedor suspended. by the introduction of the hops If desired there may also be added to the Wort acids or other chemicals of a kind adapted, without being detrimental to the beer, to beneficially effect the bacteria or to promotetheir propagation, with or without the property of also repressing the yeast. I "If desired in place of suniu33ih5acidw lating the Wort by means of.- iiuof/eris. this may be eifected partly or entirely by the in trodnction into the Wort of acids or other-v."-

ohemicalso In the case 'ofbottled beers and especially of pale alesyin order efiectually to arrest or prevent the fermentation, 'while at the same time insuring the clearness, the beer is pas teurized'and filtered, and again pasteurized after the bottling.

In carrying the invention into practice instance, pure chalk may m some cases 'fcuorablyaifect the increase and thereby also of course the acidulatin action of the bacteria, although if said ad itions are not re nired they are preferably not used.

if particularly desired, an approximate effect may be obtained by the introduction of acids instead of, or in conjunction with,

the aforesaid bacteria, such for-instance as lactic, citric, or tartaric acid; but these are less to be recommended as they do not produce cilccts equal to those obtained by the use of bacteria.

The length of time during which the acid forming bacteria are allowed to work would vary according to the degree of ncidulution inquired but usually from 3 to 10 hours will be found sullicient. Afterthe required dcgrcc of aciolulution has been reached the hops or hopped wort or extract of hops are introduced and this will arrest or suspend the ucidulcting action of the bacteria. After having been hopped the wort is prefcrubly healed up and said heating may be continued for u considerable while in order .0 obtain good precipitation, especially in the case of pale beers. The wort is then cooled down to the fermenting temperature and there is added to it either a certain amount of beer in a state of fermentation or the requisite quantity of ycastprefercbly surface fermentation yeast, and it is then allowed to stand for say 6 to 18 hours until noticeable signs of .alcoholic fermentation appear. Such fermentation is checked immcdintcly it has gone far enough, preferably by nproccss of pasteurization carried out in a special pressure vat suited for the purpose and also suited for enabling the proccm to be carried out on a large scale. This Vii-i3. hermetically sealed, is so constructed that the beer after having; been warmed therein up'to the pasteurization by means of water or steam may also be cooled down therein as nearly as possible to zero by any suitable.

means, such :15 cold water, ice water, etc. in order to precipitate all precipitable albuminous and resinous hop particles and to ,lmstcn the removal of the dead yeast and bacteria cells. After the complete or pertial clarification the pasteurized beer is removed fromlhe rat in such a way as not to disturb it more than can be avoided or to take outwith it any of the precipitate; the

beer being then filtered if the clarification is incomplete. If required, the beer is then aerated end bottled after which it preferably undergoes further pasteurization. In

-'the on so of dark. beers, however, the first pas touriznl'ion, together with the filtering, may bo dispensed with if itis desired to simplify {the process; but in this case there would of course be :1 certain amount of precipitate bottled with the beer..

I chum 1. A process of, making beer containing but small quantities of alcohol, which consists in acidulating tho wort; hopping the acidulatcd wort, then adding yeast to produce alcoholic fcrmentution, and checking the fermentation at such a stage as to leave but a small quantity of alcohol in the beer.

2. A process of mukin f beer containing but small quantities of al cohol, which consists in aciduluting the wort by treatment with acid-forming bacteria, hopping the ucidulutcd Wort, then udding'ycust to pro duce alcoholic fermentation, and checking the fermentation at such a stage as to leave but a. small quantity of alcohol in the beer.

3. A process of making beer containing but snnill quantities of alcohol, which consists in introducing acid-formingbacteria into the wort, permitting the bacterial action to continue until the wort is ecidulated, then hopping the wort tostop the bacterial notion, adding yeast to produce alcoholic fermeutation, and checking the fermentation at such a stage as to leavebut a small quantity' of alcohol in the beer.

4. A process of making beerc-ontaining but small quantities of alcohol, which consists in introducing old-forming bacteria and substances adapted to facilitate their action into the wort, permitting the bacterinl action to continue until'the wort is acid ulatcd, then hoppin the wort to stop the bacterial action, and ing yoastto produce alcoholic fermentation, and checking the fermentation at such a stage as to leave but a small. quantity of alcohol in the beer.

5. A process of making beer containing but small quantities of alcohol, which consists in aciduluting the wort, hopping the acidulated wort, then adding yeast to produce alcoholic fermentation, and checking the fermentation at such a stage as to leave but a small quantity of :alcobol in the beer by pasteurizing the beer, filtering and bottling the beer and again pnsteurizing.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CASPAR REITER. Witnesses:

A. C. W. EARLE, ARTHUR Golan. 

